Nasher Sculpture Center Extends Sightings: Bettina Pousttchi

For her exhibition at the Nasher, Pousttchi expands on the relationship between photography, sculpture, and architecture to create a unique environment that draws on the history of the Nasher Sculpture Center site. The artist has transformed one of the upstairs galleries into a closed urban streetscape recalling the gasoline service stations and parking lots that formerly occupied the Nasher location dating back to when Ross Avenue was known as “Automobile Row” in the middle of the 20th century. The floor of the gallery has been “blacktopped” and painted to resemble a street, creating a “drive thru” art gallery for selected works from the Nasher Collection. A photographic pattern reminiscent of expanding scissor gates often used to protect storefronts and automobile repair shops was applied to the glass facades of the gallery, obscuring views into and out of the space. In addition, several of Pousttchi’s sculptures made from police barricades and street bollards occupy the spaces surrounding the gallery.